


All That Remains

by PrettyinInk



Series: Black Magic [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Brief discussion of eating disorders, Chara-centric, Flowey and Papyrus are both adults, Flowey is hella abusive, Flowey really hates Sans, Flowey’s terrible relationships, Frisk (Undertale)-centric, Gen, M/M, Mental Health Issues, POV Flowey (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Papyrus (Undertale)-centric, Unreliable Narrator, Warning: Flowey, flowey-centric, that’s a lot of centrics lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 08:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20793875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyinInk/pseuds/PrettyinInk
Summary: -Is this.Is them.His best friends.-Flowey and his favorites.





	All That Remains

**Author's Note:**

> *Awkwardly posts this weird angsty pile of steaming shit on the internet*
> 
> Also, I just wanna get this part out of the way. I headcanon Frisk (and Kris, not that they're relevant here) as NB, specifically agender. I always saw Chara as an extremely tomboyish girl however. So Frisk and Chara have kinda similar gender expressions in my head, but different identities.  
Also! Unhealthy relationships and mental health issues here! It isn't gory, but I just wanted to put that out there.
> 
> And yeah, this is a part of a series (one that does not have bizarre purple prose like this piece does), but this doesn't spoil anything. A bit of prior knowledge is needed towards the end however. Basically, I just had the sudden urge to get into Flowey's head.
> 
> UPDATE: Wow, it's been a while (chuckles nervously).  
Um, I'm gonna write more. I have no more excuses after all, and pretty much all the time in the world. But, it's been a while since I first entered the fandom and my interpretation has changed in some regards, so I felt like I should update this.   
Basically, at first I thought that the genders were up to the player, but I actually think it is canon now that all three are NB. So, Chara is not a girl, as they are explicitly referred to with "they/their/them" pronouns in the game and are established to have their own distinct identity. I can see why others would think it is up to interpretation though, and I am not gonna hate on you if you vehemently disagree and think they are either a boy or a girl, but I am nevertheless changing Chara's pronouns. I personally feel like I have misgendered Chara, and even though they are just a fictional character, I felt bad leaving this up the way it is now. So if this is suddenly in your recently-updated bookmarks, that is why.

1\. 

Maybe-

He loved them the moment he first saw them. Chara, with their dirty clothes and their scuffed knees and their boyish, auburn curls. Chara, with a fire that shone almost crimson in their sharp-eyed gaze. 

A small knife trembled slightly in their grasp. There was a cynical, bitter twist to their mouth. They were a child hurt too many times, he remembers. Their heart was hard and cold, but Asriel managed to burrow in anyways. 

Maybe he shouldn't have.

Golden flowers, Chara said while twirling a buttercup in their hand, were about a shade too dark for the sun. 

I would like to see the sun one day, he said to them.

Chara smiled, that bitter twist. Soon, they promised, soon.

And Asriel, well, he was in-

Not in love. Not that way.

But love was in him. Chara was all that was true. Love and hate and endless burning. His sibling, his partner, his best friend.

Together until an end.

DETERMINATION.

2\. 

Maybe-

Frisk reminds him of Chara. Nearly the same clothes, their dark hair in the same messy bob, but they were more starry-eyed than Chara. Dreaming, driving, driving, never letting go. All fire, but not a blaze. A hearth.

So he kills them. Again and again and again. 

3\. 

Maybe- 

Papyrus is...

Well, you see-

He is a lot of things, but he is never boring.

4\. 

The corpse was heavy in his arms. The mouth, once perpetually animated, gaped as though in an aborted movement. Their lips, once pinkish and lively, were pale. Together, Chara and Asriel closed the corpse's eyelids with gentle fingers, unable to bear the utter deadness in its eyes. 

It does not matter. This corpse- it is just a husk. Chara was with him now. Chara is him now. He knew them well. 

It was so intimate. So fulfilling. Their soul was his. His soul was theirs. They were one, yet they were two. Together until an end. 

They filled the gaps he never knew were there. 

DETERMINATION.

5\. 

The corpse was not a corpse. The corpse was a corpse again. The corpse was not a corpse. The corpse was a corpse again.

Each time, he kills Frisk, he wonders if this time he'll get bored of killing them. Every time he reloads, Frisk scurries from his attacks like some annoying cockroach. The attacks they cannot dodge, they endure. And when he kills them, they inexplicably return.

Spurts of red. Coppery odors. Once, a burst of their blood splatters across his new, ungodly form. Some of it gets in his maw. It has a distinct tang.

A tentacle, a bomb, a mocking finger-gun, a barrage of friendliness pellets- on and on it goes. 

Maybe, they'll give up eventually. But Flowey is beginning to doubt it.

Deep within, he feels the SOULS he absorbed begin to stir. 

DETERMINATION.

6\. 

Papyrus...

Is Papyrus.

Is Papyrus.

Is Papyrus.

No matter how many times Flowey hurts him, Papyrus strives to be his friend. Of course he does, Flowey thinks. It is not like Papyrus knows any better. It is not as though Papyrus could ever possibly know that time is an endless, flat circle.

Ah, that sweet, perpetual smile. Those wide, welcoming arms. Poor, pathetic Papyrus... 

I believe in you, Papyrus says one time, like he always says, and Flowey laughs. But then-

You have all the time in the world to do better, Papyrus adds, and Flowey stops laughing. And in that moment, Papyrus seems to Flowey more of a sun than the sun is the sun. And something in Flowey aches. 

Flowey kills him extra slowly that time around. His screams are like a song to Flowey's ears. Papyrus is such... is such...

_ An idiot_.

7.

Chara and Papyrus are nothing alike, Flowey knows. 

Chara was all darkness, and Papyrus is all light, but when he contemplates-

The moments when Chara believed themself to be well and truly alone, and stood still in perfect repose, as though trapped in a dream they could not escape. The moments when Flowey has to hold Papyrus after he wakes up from one of his nightmares. The moment when Chara lay in their bed, wheezing their final breaths. The moments when Flowey feels Papyrus start crumbling to dust. 

It is there. He can finally see it. A barely-there sadness, but never resignation. A crack in both of their facades, but still-

DETERMINATION. 

8\. 

Chara and Frisk loved Asriel. And Asriel loved them.

But if Flowey could love anyone, he thinks that maybe he would love Papyrus. 

His best friend.

So, one time, Papyrus creates _The Flowey_ _Fanclub_, and Flowey attends every stupid meeting. So another time, Papyrus tries to teach Flowey how to make spaghetti, and when Flowey tastes the pasta he feels as though he is being poisoned with kindness and what might literally be poison. So yet another time, when Flowey has the sudden urge to break Papyrus down in every possible way, he, well. He decides not to. 

Flowey doesn't even know why.

MERCY.

9.

Papyrus does not eat enough. One RESET, he even falls down.

That next RESET, Flowey breaks Papyrus's bones until Papyrus promises to eat more. Papyrus's loud, obnoxious voice is fraying at the edges. He is begging for MERCY. This is MERCY. Now, Papyrus will know what is in store for him if he ever decides to be an idiot like that again.

10.

Flowey hates Sans.

Gross, annoying Sans. Sans and his trashbag-jacket and his grubby hands. He always smells like ketchup.

Also, Sans remembers RESETS. Joy of joys. Flowey dies more than once to Sans, and every single time, he does not know if he wants to laugh or scream. Sans strives to protect his brother's innocence and to keep that large, fake smile plastered on Papyrus's face, but-

But Sans does not seem to realize that Papyrus remembers too. Flowey brings this up to Papyrus once, and Papyrus's ever-present grin twitches. There is something like desperation in Papyrus's eyes. You can never tell Sans, Papyrus says, and his voice is hard for once, like Chara's was. Something like admiration for Papyrus swells in Flowey's core, where his SOUL would be if he still had one. 

If he finds out I remember, I don't think he'd be able to stand it, Papyrus continues, and so Flowey promises, but hates Sans more than ever. 

Gross, annoying Sans. To think Flowey thought Papyrus was the stupid one. Every single time after that conversation, when Flowey sees Sans and his overdramatic, flashing eye, he wants to laugh. Protect Papyrus's innocence? What innocence is there to protect? Flowey has ensured that Papyrus's innocence is broken a thousand times over. He has berated Papyrus to tears, has twisted his bones into macabre, unnatural positions, has splayed his joints and cracked his skull. 

Papyrus is gullible and overly-idealistic and loud and touchy-feely. Sometimes, Papyrus's niceness makes Flowey shudder with disdain. But no, no, no- Papyrus is certainly not innocent. How can he be? Passive-aggressive, egotistical, traumatized Papyrus. Poor, pathetic Papyrus.

Papyrus...

Is Papyrus.

Is Papyrus.

Is the greatest.

His best friend. 

But he made a promise, so he never tells Sans a single thing. Even if Sans is the worst. 

11.

All that remains-

Is this.

Is them.

Chara. Frisk. Papyrus. 

Nobody else in this meaningless world matters to Flowey. Not anymore.

12\. 

When Chara hugs Asriel, he is finally trusted.

When Frisk hugs Asriel, he is finally forgiven.

When Papyrus hugs Flowey, he is finally accepted.

And he, well, he's in-

Not in love. Not that way.

But almost.

13\. 

Frisk's eyes are flecked with red. Frisk's eyes are almost Chara's, sharp and cruel. A small knife is held tightly in Frisk's grasp. There is a cynical, bitter twist to Frisk's mouth. They were a child given too much power, he realizes, the weight of whole worlds on their tiny shoulders. Their heart is hard and cold. Hungry for power, for possibilities, starry-eyed but in all the wrong ways. 

Chara is dead, Flowey tells himself, but now Chara stands before him. And Frisk stands before him. Chara is Frisk and Frisk is Chara. And they are one, even as they are two. Together until an end. 

Flowey suddenly wonders where that leaves him in this terrible game. 

Oh, well. Does it matter?

No, there is only this, only-

DETERMINATION.

14\. 

When Flowey dies at the hands of Chara and Frisk, his thoughts turn to Papyrus.

Flowey doesn't even know why. 

Oh, well. Does it matter?

No, there is only this, only-

RESET.

15\. 

No more RESETS, Frisk promises before leaving with all the other monsters to the surface.

And Flowey knows that Chara is finally, truly gone. 

And Flowey knows that he is alone.

16\. 

Months pass-

And sometimes Flowey cried out. But nobody came. 

17.

Months pass-

And sometimes Flowey cried out. But nobody came.

18.

Months pass-

And sometimes Flowey cried out. But nobody came.

Until one day, somebody did.

Papyrus, but not. Papyrus, but wrong. Claws for finger-bones, jagged knives for teeth. Empty pits oozing shadow for eyes.

For a moment, Flowey thinks about killing this twisted version of Papyrus. Then Flowey decides against it, because he _feels_\- 

Something. Something warmish and nice.

No. Papyrus can stay with him instead, down here, Underground.

Just the two of them, together until an end.

Poor, pathetic Papyrus. His best friend.

MERCY. 

19.

Golden flowers, Chara said while twirling a buttercup in their hand, were about a shade too dark for the sun.

In the memory, for a moment Chara and Frisk and Papyrus all blur together. 

But then, it is just Chara again. Chara, smiling sweetly. Sometimes, Flowey forgot they could do that too.

Smile sweetly, that is.

Let's bake a pie, Chara said, just for dad. 

20. 

All that remains is him.  Poor, pathetic Papyrus. 

And Flowey, well, he's in-

**Author's Note:**

> I need to know this. Is “Chara” pronounced like “Kara” or like “Car-ah?” It’s driving me absolutely insane. I must discover the true pronunciation lest I internally mispronounce their name forever...


End file.
